Chương 13: The Price of Survival

I looked at the driver as a smirk curled across my lips. My violet eyes were probably glowing again, which tended to happen whenever I indulged the instincts crawling beneath my skin.

"Since we saved you, we receive half the gold in your safe. The terms are non-negotiable." The driver stared at me.

"Half?" He spoke as though I had demanded his firstborn child, one of his organs, and a signed apology from whatever god had created him. I tilted my head.

"Would you prefer to be dead?"

"N-no, but…"

"Then explain your confusion." His mouth opened and closed without producing an answer. I gestured toward the corpses scattered across the road.

"Those men intended to kill you, take everything you owned, and leave your body in the dirt. We arrived, handled the problem, and preserved both your life and your safety. Even your carriage remains mostly intact. Honestly, this was one of my cleaner rescues." Celeste glanced across the blood-soaked road, while Adrian kept his eyes straight ahead. The driver clutched the front of his coat.

"Half is outrageous."

"Outrageous?" I repeated.

"Yes." My smile widened.

"Why would we save a stranger we've never met, share no relationship with, and owe absolutely nothing merely for a grateful smile and a pat on the back? Do I look slow or stupid?" The driver wisely hesitated.

"Don't take too long answering that," Adrian warned. I glanced toward him. He stood beside Celeste with blood still staining his mouth, his expression composed and his gaze fixed firmly on the driver. Nothing in his posture was openly threatening, yet the promise of violence sat just beneath the surface. He was learning remarkably quickly. The driver swallowed.

"Everything in that safe represents my life's savings."

"And we are the reason you still possess a life," I replied.

"Without us, you would be dead and own nothing. Now you remain alive and keep half. What exactly is the problem?" From the corner of my eye, I caught Adrian's slight nod. There was nothing eager or dramatic in the gesture, only agreement. He understood the logic. Celeste was less certain. She didn't look disgusted or judgmental, only conflicted, and for some irritating reason, I cared enough to recognize the difference.

While the driver wrestled with the terrible burden of remaining alive at reduced profit, I turned toward her.

"Are you uncomfortable with this?" Celeste met my gaze. Her lips parted, then closed again before she finally asked, "Is this right?" I shrugged.

"Is it right for us to risk our lives on behalf of people who offer nothing but gratitude afterward?" She didn't answer. I stepped closer and lowered my voice, though not enough to prevent the driver from hearing pieces if he listened carefully.

"There is something I neglected to mention on our journey to Black Hollow." Celeste held my gaze while Adrian's attention shifted toward me.

"My family is dead because I killed them." Celeste went completely still. Adrian's expression barely changed, though his eyes sharpened.

"They were ungrateful pieces of human trash who refused to treat me as though I were worth less than the dirt beneath their boots. My brother received food, warmth, praise, inheritance, and a future. I received scraps, punishment, beatings, and eventually a buyer old enough to decay while standing." Celeste's eyes widened slightly. Before she could respond, I pressed on.

"My father sold me, and the woman who gave birth to me stood beside him and let it happen. Elias thanked me because the price of my suffering bought him a wedding house. Then, when I escaped the fate they had chosen for me, all three came to watch the flames take what was left." The road fell silent. Even the driver seemed to forget how to tremble.

"I'm not telling you this because I desire sympathy. I don't want it. I'm explaining why I see the world as I do." Celeste's expression softened as that dangerous warmth returned to her eyes. She remained silent, however, which was probably the wisest choice she had made all day.

"My morality is warped," I admitted.

"I know that, and I'm not confused about it. What I refuse to do is suffer for people who will not value the sacrifice. I will not make myself useful for free, nor will I allow anyone to treat me like a tool that bleeds on command before being placed back upon a shelf." Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Adrian's jaw tightened. Celeste lowered her gaze toward her hands, where blood still stained her fingers.

"My family took from me until there was almost nothing left. From what I've seen, humans are remarkably skilled at taking. They take daughters, safety, kindness, loyalty, and rescue. Then, when asked to repay even a fraction of what they received, they call the person demanding payment cruel." The driver made a small sound, but one look from me silenced him immediately. Smart man… Then I returned my attention to Celeste.

"I consider myself above humans in the natural order now. Perhaps that makes me a monster. Whatever... At least I'm a monster with standards. I don't hunt innocent people without reason, nor do I slaughter strangers because boredom has taken me. I choose predators, thieves, murderers, and beasts that would devour others if left alone." A slow, sharp smile returned to my face.

"And I charge the survivors because gratitude offered with empty hands has very little value." Celeste fell into deep contemplation while the wind moved through the trees, and Adrian gave her the space to work through it without pressure or interference. When she finally raised her eyes to mine, the conflict had not disappeared, but acceptance had begun to settle in its place.

"You're not asking me to stop caring," she said softly. I blinked, caught off guard by an answer I had not expected. Celeste then looked toward the dead guards, the trembling driver, and finally the corpses of the men they had killed.

"You're asking me to understand what we are now and what it costs when we place ourselves between danger and someone else." I stared at her as Adrian's mouth curved faintly beside her. Celeste rested one hand over her chest, directly above the blood I had given her.

"I may never see people exactly as you do," she admitted.

"Perhaps I should not. But I understand this much. We saved him, bled for him, and killed for him. If our lives possess value, then our protection must possess value as well." My eyes narrowed slightly, but Celeste only smiled back with the same warmth she always carried. This time, however, there was conviction beneath it, as though she had reached her own conclusion and wouldn't be easily moved from it.

"So yes, Helena. I understand." Something warm and unpleasant stirred in my chest, and I reluctantly recognized it as pride. How inconvenient. Adrian stepped beside her.

"For the record, I agree with your terms." The driver's face fell. Adrian regarded him with composed calm.

"Had we not arrived, you would be dead. Your safe, goods, horses, and carriage would belong to the men lying around us. Half is not theft. It is the price of survival." Celeste nodded.

"He is alive, his goods are safe, and half the gold still belongs to him. That sounds generous enough." I looked at her. She returned my stare with complete seriousness, as though she had simply followed the argument to its obvious conclusion. Then I laughed.

"Careful, Celeste. You're learning quickly."

"I'm adapting."

"To extortion?" I smirked.

"To reality." Adrian gave her an unmistakably approving look. The driver suddenly released a strangled sound.

"Wait." I turned toward him. His face had gone pale in a deeply satisfying way.

"Violet eyes," he whispered.

"Silver hair… and demanding half after rescuing merchants…" I smiled.

"Yes?" His voice dropped even lower.

"Are you the Violet Extorter?" I stared at him.

"The what?" Adrian blinked. Celeste pressed her lips tightly together. The driver looked as though he had just realized that the creature who rescued him was also a tax collector with fangs.

"I have heard stories," he explained.

"A woman with silver hair and violet eyes appears along the roads, rescues merchants from bandits or monsters, and then demands half their gold."

"Reasonable so far."

"If they refuse, she overturns their carriages and destroys their goods." Celeste made a suspiciously small sound while Adrian turned his face away. I looked between them, and then shrugged without the slightest remorse.

"Are you laughing?"

"No," Adrian answered.

"Yes," Celeste replied at the same time. Adrian sighed. Celeste covered her mouth, though her shoulders continued trembling.

"I'm sorry, but Violet Extorter?"

"It's not my fault people lack imagination." Adrian cleared his throat.

"The name does possess a certain reputation-building quality."

"It sounds like a drunken insult shouted across a tavern."

"It sounds like branding," Celeste offered. I gave her a flat look. She lowered her hand, though amusement continued shining in her eyes.

"Frightening branding," she amended.

"Acceptable..." The driver swallowed.

"So it's you." I turned back toward him and allowed my smirk to return.

"That's probably me." His gaze darted toward the carriage. It remained upright and largely intact. For now…

"Then you understand the situation," I told him.

"Hand over half, or we can see how well your carriage survives the alternative." The driver looked from the bodies to Adrian, then Celeste, and finally me. Perhaps he noticed the glow in my eyes, or perhaps wisdom had simply arrived late. With nowhere left to hide and no argument left to make, the driver finally unlocked the safe, revealing the gold stacked inside. Celeste watched quietly while he counted out half.

Adrian remained beside her, silent and steady, with one hand resting near his sword despite the absence of any remaining threat. Once the payment was complete, I secured the coins and turned down the road. My pockets were heavier, my mood was brighter, and the carriage remained balanced upon all four wheels. A miracle, really… As we walked away, Celeste fell into step on my right while Adrian moved to my left. For a while, none of us spoke. Then Celeste broke the silence.

"Violet Extorter."

"Do not," I snapped.

"I think it possesses a certain charm."

"It possesses stupidity." Adrian looked straight ahead.

"It's memorable." I glared at him. He maintained a perfectly composed expression. Celeste smiled before glancing toward me.

"Helena, I don't believe you're wrong to demand something in return for your protection." I gave no answer, which naturally encouraged her to keep speaking.

"Perhaps you could agree on the terms beforehand through a protection contract with clearly defined payment and expectations." I turned toward her.

"Absolutely not." Celeste blinked.

"You didn't even consider it."

"I considered it enough to recognize a terrible idea. A contract means obligations, and obligations mean someone believing they're entitled to summon me whenever danger appears." Adrian glanced toward me.

"They would be paying for the service."

"They would be paying to become a problem I could not simply ignore." Celeste's brow furrowed.

"It could provide steady income."

"It would also require me to remain nearby, respond when called, and pretend every frightened merchant with a purse deserves immediate attention. That sounds suspiciously like employment." Neither of them spoke. I shuddered at the idea.

"I didn't crawl out of one miserable life only to spend this one at the beck and call of strangers. Anyone wealthy enough to purchase regular protection would eventually decide the contract entitled them to more than safety. They would expect escorts, personal intervention, retaliation against rivals, and my immediate presence whenever they felt threatened. Before long, I would be solving every inconvenience they lacked the courage to handle themselves, and no amount of gold would make that worthwhile."

Celeste considered that.

"So you prefer rescuing people only when you happen to find them?"

"I prefer choosing where I go, whom I help, and what I charge after seeing how annoying they are." Adrian's mouth twitched. Celeste sighed.

"That's not a very stable business model."

"It's an extremely stable freedom model." She couldn't argue with that. Behind us, the driver remained alive, poorer, and considerably more educated. Ahead, the road curved toward Graymere, and no contract waited there to tell me what to do.